FOR the first time this year, Alex Eala is playing in the juniors circuit.
The Filipina returns to the girls' singles and doubles play in the 2022 US Open in New York.
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She plays her opener on Sunday facing 18-year-old juniors world No. 24 Annabelle Xu of Canada at 11:00 p.m. (Manila time).
In 2020, Eala reached No. 2 in the ITF Juniors rankingsand is now 169th. On the WTA she is No. 297.
Eala won two juniors grand slam doubles titles - with Priska Nugroho in the 2020 Australian Open, and with Oksana Selekhmeteva in the 2021 French Open.
At 17, she continues to seek for her first singles title in the girls division.
Last year in the US Open girls competition, Eala finished in the semis of the doubles and was quarterfinalist in the singles.
Since the end of 2020, Eala started joining the pros, and won her maiden title in the W15 Manacor in January 2021.
This year, she focused entirely on playing the pros, and gained another feat in W25 Chiang Rai last April. She is currently ranked WTA no. 290.
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